UPS Plans to Convert New York City Fleet From Diesel to Electric
UPS hopes that by 2022, one in four of its diesel-fueled delivery vehicles will be electric, hybrid or alternate-fuel and is collaborating with The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority towards that goal.
To help develop the technology, the NYSERDA will contribute $500,000 with the expectation of converting up to 1,500 trucks, or 66 percent of the fleet operating in the city.
"The company also says that it presently uses “more than 770 electric or hybrid electric vehicles,” as well as more than 8,500 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles worldwide.”
Read more of the original article at The Verge.
Tesla Model 3 Doesn’t Fare Well After Test Drive
Getting quality right is expected to be a critical challenge for the California-based automaker despite intense efforts to resolve what CEO Elon Musk has referred to as “production hell.”
“Our inspection revealed widespread shortcomings in fit and finish ,” wrote Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, after taking the Model 3 for a test drive out of Tesla’s showroom in Brooklyn. “Tesla representatives acknowledged some of the fit issues, but stated that they believed that Model 3 was much further ahead than where Model X and S had been at this point in production.”
Consumer Reports removed the Tesla Model 3 from its Recommended Buy list because of quality issues even though the basic features were enough to win rave reviews.
Read more of the original article at The Detroit Bureau.
A Call To Action: Proving the Value of Digital Marketing
By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer
As a marketing manager for a provider of B2B products or services, you know that the first question your executives will ask is “Where’s the value?” of each of your marketing tactics. Even though we are in the digital age, you can’t justify marketing value based on Facebook “likes,” Twitter “follows,” and LinkedIn connections. As it was unlikely that management would appreciate the value of traditional print advertising measures like cost-per-thousand, impressions, awareness and perceptions, the digital metrics provided by internet services are lacking.
Still, digital marketing offers value, as evidenced by its growing share of the overall marketing budget. The key to showing value is to do the additional hard work to translate and extend superficial facts with meaningful business results.
Start with the undeniable ability to own the channel. In the digital world, you can have total control over direct interactions with your target audience. You can control both the timing and content of your messages.
Self-Driving Shuttle Gets Off to a Bumpy Start in Las Vegs
The first day of service, the 8 passenger self-driving shuttle - which is a part of a 12-month pilot project in Las Vegas - sensed a semi-truck backing out of an alleyway, stopped and was hit.
“It’s a perfect example of the human error that we’re trying to avoid,” says John Moreno, a spokesperson for AAA.
The pilot project will test how the self-driving shuttle fares as part of the city's transportation network while exposing the public to driverless technology.
Read more of the original article at Wired.
Ford CEO Wants Smart Self-Driving Vehicles
As the world becomes more technologically dependent and complex, Ford Motor Company's CEO Jim Hackett wants the company to build the iPhone of autonomous vehicles.
Hackett looks at Ford’s evolution much like Snapchat when compared to one of the earliest messaging mediums, the Pony Express.
“Ford’s future is not about giving up the car,” Hackett said. “But there’s no dumb cars in the future. There can’t be. We have to evolve these things to be ever smarter.”
Read more of the original article at The Detroit News.
